Restaurant Fire Protection

According to the United States Fire Administration (USFA), there are an estimated 5,900 fires in restaurant buildings each year. These fires cause an average of 75 injuries and $172 million in property loss annually. Don’t let your restaurant add to those statistics. Restaurants are at a high risk for fires due to the large amount of food being prepared and high number of people in a centralized area any given night.

Protecting employees, customers, equipment, and property from fires is of great concern to all restaurant owners. Luckily, understanding fires hazards in restaurants as well as what fire protection and training measures can be implemented is a great start for any restaurant owner.

Fire Hazards in Restaurants

Restaurants face many more fire hazards than typical properties because so much action is focused on the kitchen area. There are many hazardous areas and activities on a given night your restaurant is open, including:

Open flames – with a fast-paced kitchen, open flames can easily escalate to a fire if not properly maintained. Keep mind of loose clothing and cooking articles that could ignite if they are too close to the flame.
Full grease traps – grease traps are great at catching pieces of food and food packaging that is tossed aside. These items can quickly become aflame when hot grease is added.
An unclean kitchen – fires can spread quickly when a kitchen is cluttered with food packaging and discarded items. While your restaurant’s kitchen staff may be hectically running around during the dinner rush, keep walkways and storage areas tidy and de-cluttered to prevent the spread of fire.
Storage of flammable materials – as basic as it sounds, it’s important to store flammable materials away from sources of flames or heat.

Despite the increased risks of fires in restaurant kitchens, simply knowing some of the greatest hazards within a kitchen setting can help prevent a fire from occurring or spreading. Installing a kitchen fire suppression system in some of these hazardous zones can help diffuse a breakout fire and minimize damage

Employee Training for Kitchen Fire Prevention

Sometimes fires are not fully preventable, and in these cases, it’s important to have your restaurant employees trained in basic kitchen fire protection techniques.

For fire prevention in restaurants, your staff should be assigned regularly to:

Clean grill surfaces
Check for frayed power cords
Clean up high traffic areas
Avoid cooking areas they are not needed in

Restaurant owners and managers should also make sure that their kitchen staff knows basic responses for when a fire breaks out in the kitchen, especially:

Never throwing water on a grease fire
Understanding how to use fire extinguishers
Stopping, dropping, and rolling
Practicing safety fire drills with different emergency exit routes
Knowing where fire alarms are located

Non-Cooking Related Fires in Restaurants

Although cooking oils—such as fat and grease—are the leading cause of fires in commercial kitchens, restaurants still need to protect themselves against fire emergencies ignited away from the cooking scene. Electrical malfunction is a big concern for fire protection.

Ensuring that all electrical equipment—regardless if it is located in the kitchen—is routinely inspected is one measure to ensure that your entire facility is protected against a fire emergency. Electrical cords that are frayed and equipment that is faulty are likely to spark, causing an electrical fire throughout your restaurant. Having a fire sprinkler system designed and installed throughout the entire restaurant can also contain fires outside of the cooking area and minimize damage or injury.